Chapter Text
Waverly wishes she didn’t remember last night. Had the memories been gone, Waverly could blame the choices she had made on the guise of alcohol, but alas, she remembers (almost) every moment.
Yesterday had been a long day, starting with Waverly finally recording her first song. Waverly imagined it would’ve been an exciting time, a time of celebration. She had organized to go out for drinks with Wynonna, Xavier, and Doc after work. Only, it hadn’t been fun or something to celebrate. Waverly would do something and moments later Bobo would be yelling at her. She couldn’t do anything right; that is until Wynonna and Xavier stopped by and then he was all sunshine and rainbows.
Waverly had been near tears when Wynonna swooped in to pick her up for their night. Waverly had always been the more emotional of the two, but she tries so hard to keep it close to her chest. She swallowed the tears and pushed the emotions aside. Wynonna was so excited for Waverly, still is, and Waverly wasn’t going to take that away from her.
When they got to the bar, Waverly was all too eager to down the first beer, but neither Wynonna nor Xavier noticed, and Doc only gave her a funny look before indulging himself. Waverly remembered doing one, two, three drinks before she saw a flash of red hair among the crowd.
With a burst of confidence she had approached Nicole with a giggle and “Hey Haught stuff!” She could still smell the alcohol on Nicole’s breath as the other girl giggled. Fortunately the specifics of the flirting are fuzzy for Waverly, as she’s positive that everything she had said was humiliating. What isn’t fuzzy, is the feeling of their bodies pressed together, moving together. She remembers vividly boldly pulling Nicole down to her so she could kiss the redhead. She remembers the hours of being intoxicated with Nicole’s perfume.
Waverly remembers Nicole going to grab a few more beers and whining when Nicole let go of her. She remembers Wynonna nearly dragging her out of the bar because it was time to go. She’s still puzzled as to how Xavier got Wynonna to leave before last call. Waverly’s got to wonder how much Nicole remembers. She contemplates texting Nicole, but if Nicole doesn’t remember anything is it worth bringing it up. Is it worth the embarrassment? From what Waverly remembers, Nicole wasn’t exactly complaining, but for all Waverly knows, she’s only into girls when she’s tipsy.
“Waves,” Waverly sighs, a smile crossing her face as she looked up to see her older sister sauntering into the coffee shop. “How’s your head?” Wynonna smirks knowingly, and Waverly just rolls her eyes. Her hangover had been week compared to the bruises under her neck that she had covered in make-up from the night before. Just thinking about them brought a light blush to Waverly’s face. If the entire town hadn’t known she was into girls, any one in that bar knew after last night.
“Fine. Wyn, I barely drank last night.” Waverly laughs lightly, “At least for an Earp.” It’s well known that the Earps have a slightly higher alcohol tolerance than that of the rest of the small town.
Wynonna sniggers slightly, before slinging her arm over Waverly’s shoulders. “Well good. You studied Latin or some shit like that right?” Waverly laughs, nodding. Wynonna tries to keep up, she really does, but she’s just so bad at it. “Dolls could use your help. Some whack job Black Badge is prosecuting wrote in Latin of all things. He thinks it might help their case if he can decipher it.” Waverly nods, but her insides start to tangle. She wants to help Xavier, especially considering all he’s done for her, especially lately, but Black Badge is right next to the Purgatory Times offices and a certain redhead that Waverly may or may not be trying to avoid works just there.
Logically, she’s pretty sure she’ll have to talk to Nicole at some point, but Waverly’s not eager to get to that point nor is she eager for Wynonna to be with her when it occurs. In the end her loyalty to Xavier wins out and before she knows it she’s in the car with her sister on the way to the law offices.
Nicole’s memory is a little fuzzy. Beer after beer, shot after shot, she was without a doubt hammered last night. Her memories were fuzzy until she sees the small brunette eyes scrunched, intently focusing on a few scattered letters in the shared break room space. She probably should’ve figured she’d run into Waverly, as she’s vaguely aware of the smaller Earp’s connection to Xavier Dolls, the star lawyer at Black Badge.
She contemplates going over there, but she’s not sure what she’d say. ‘Hey, last night was fun. Oh, in case you can’t remember we danced much too close and provokadevley for friends and I sucked a bruise into your neck. Don’t know if you’re just into girls when you’re intoxicated, but I really like you’ just doesn’t seem to roll off the tongue. Nicole can taste Waverly on her lips and in a moment of boldness, Nicole bursts through the door, making Waverly look up and meet Nicole’s gaze.
By the blush on Waverly’s face, Nicole gathers she’s not the only one with memories of the previous night. With a smirk, Nicole moves her eyes from Waverly’s collar bone to her chin. She doesn’t see the mark she expected she had left, but if when she looks hard enough, she can see a spot right where she remembers where the skin color doesn’t quite match the rest. “Uh, Nicole, Ms. Haught.” Waverly coughs, looking nervous.
“Waverly.” Nicole saunters to the coffee maker, keeping her gaze on Waverly. “Waverly, do I scare you?” Her tongue flicks against her teeth, raising an eyebrow. Nicole has had her fair share of flirtations with straight and questioning girls, but none quite intrigued her like Waverly Earp.
“No.” Waverly’s voice barely registers over a whisper. It’s weary and unsure, but Nicole doesn’t want to push her, not too far. “You don’t.” Waverly adds, more certain than before. Nicole nods, realizing how condescending she probably appears to Waverly. “You don’t scare me Nicole.” Waverly adds again, overworking the point so much that Nicole is pretty sure she scares the shit out of Waverly.
Nicole figures maybe she’ll just push her one last time, one last bit. “What does scare you Waverly Earp?” Nicole asks. She tries to keep her eyes on Waverly, but they fall to her lips and shoot back up more than a few times.
Waverly gulps, her eyes finding the floor. She looks like she wants to say something, but she doesn’t. Each time she opens her mouth, she closes it moments later. “Come by Shorty’s tonight.” Waverly says hesitantly, biting her lip. “You’ll see.” Nicole wants to press, wants to know more about this fear, but her phone beeps and she knows she’s got to go. With a wave and a wink, she’s finding her way back to work, her coffee completely forgotten.
Nicole doesn’t get off until seven and she’s definitely not pleased with that. She wanted to stop by Shorty’s earlier, just in order to check out what was occurring, but alas, she’s stuck stopping by with no idea what she’ll walk into. She’s not sure what to expect, as she’s not sure what would frighten Waverly. She’s not sure what she expects, but it certainly isn’t what she gets.
Waverly is sitting on up on the small Shorty’s stage, guitar in her lap, fiddling with the tuners. The strange young man called Doc sits nearby behind a small drum set up, shooting Waverly an encouraging grin. “Um, hey guys, I guess I’ll be performing live for y’all.” Waverly gulps and Nicole wonders if this is what Waverly is so afraid of, preforming live. “So, this is, uh” She shoots a nervous glance and Doc, a cover of ‘Gravel to Tempo’.” Waverly gives a small smile but Nicole can see the fear gather in her eyes.
It finally dawns on Nicole. It’s not the performance or song choice or her sexuality that Waverly fears. It’s the judgment. She’s afraid of what the small town will think if they learn the meaning behind the words that flow beautifully from Waverly. She’s afraid what the small town will think of her voice. Nicole’s heard the Earp legends, so she expects Waverly’s been worried about her reputation and people’s perceptions of her her entire life. Nicole thinks maybe Waverly’s been doing what other people want her entire life and maybe, now, with the music thing, she’s starting to come into her own.
Nicole gets lost in the girls gaze, which happened to be a clouded green today. She doesn’t know if she’ll ever know what color Waverly’s eyes truly are, but she’s not sure she cares. “Ay, Haught!” Nicole recognizes the voice as belonging to Wynonna, Waverly’s grumpy older sister, but drink in hand she seems to be in rather a good mood. “Sorry about before Haught. Had I known you just wanted to bang my little sis I would’ve been way harder on you.” Had Nicole had had a drink, she would’ve spit it out in shock, but luckily, her mouth just goes dry and her jaw hangs open lamely. “Look, I’ll level with you,” Wynonna winks and Nicole can see the pain and experience on Wynonna’s face. She can see that the girl’s been through shit and she kind of just wants to hug her. An aching in Nicole’s heart makes her want to pull Wynonna into a hug and tell her someday she’ll find a man and he’ll treat her right, like she deserves. Someday she’ll get out from under the rumors. “You’re not Champ, so I’m fine with you trying to get in Waves’ pants.” In that moment it hits Nicole, she doesn’t know how Wynonna’s found out about her crush, but then again, from what Nicole remembers from the night before they weren’t exactly being discrete. Nicole gasps when Wynonna pulls her in by the collar of her shirt. “But if you hurt her, I will put you down. Do you understand?” Suddenly Nicole feels like she’s sixteen again and facing the father of her first date. Eyes wide, she nods quickly. “Right.” Wynonna releases Nicole within seconds and Wynonna smiles a smile Nicole has yet to see. “Hey Waves. By Haught.” Wynonna winks before slinking away.
“Hi.” Waverly smiles and Nicole swears no matter how many times Waverly Earp smiles it will always melt Nicole into a puddle.
“I liked the song.” Nicole says genuinely, but also testing Waverly. “Correct me if I’m wrong Waverly, but you’re into other women aren't you.”
Waverly’s eyes skirt around the room before Waverly clears her throat. “Define other women.” Nicole can see the nervous ticks from Waverly’s hands, to her neck to her lips.
Nicole clicks her tongue a few times, contemplating her answer. “Any woman other than yourself.” Waverly bites her lip nervously, but Nicole keeps a light gaze upon her. “Waverly, would you like to go on a date… with me?” Nicole’s asked out countless girls but she hadn’t been this frightened in nearly ten years.
A small smile grows on Waverly’s face and her eyes start to glow. “Yeah.”